Race chief was paid for advice on Shilpa row

British Government’s equality chief Trevor Phillips, responsible for making businesses and public bodies obey anti-discrimination laws...

British Government’s equality chief Trevor Phillips, responsible for making businesses and public bodies obey anti-discrimination laws, was in the eye of storm on Sunday following reports that he was paid by Channel 4 for giving advice over its Big Brother racism scandal involving Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.

Phillips, who gets 110,000 pounds per annum from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was paid for the advice to the channel following the treatment meted out to Shetty during the reality show, through Equate Organisation, which he co-founded with media entrepreneur Charles Armitage, and in which he owns 70 per cent of the shares, the media here reported.

Equate’s website prominently displays a picture of Phillips and describes him as ‘one of the leading experts on equality and diversity policy in Europe’.

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Channel 4 retained Phillips and Equate in May 2007 to help it recover from the damage it suffered when Shetty was subjected to alleged racial abuse from fellow contestants on Celebrity Big Brother earlier that year. Phillips had been one of the strongest critics of Channel 4, accusing the broadcaster of failing to take responsibility for ‘vicious racial bigotry’ on the reality show.

Big Brother housemates Jade Goody, her then boyfriend Jack Tweedy, glamour model Danielle Lloyd and former S Club 7 singer Jo O’Meara were at the centre of the allegations. Viewers saw Goody refer to Shetty as ‘poppadom’ and Lloyd telling the Bollywood star she should just ‘go home’ adding: “She can’t even speak English properly.”